SAN DIEGO — President Donald Trump on Tuesday stood alongside the prototypes of the wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, the first tangible steps towards fulfilling one of his most popular and persistent campaign promises.

“If you don’t have a wall system, we’re not going to have a country,” Trump said in brief remarks during his tour.

President Trump is shown border wall prototypes in San Diego, California on March 13, 2018.

President Trump is shown border wall prototypes in San Diego, California on March 13, 2018.

Mandel Ngan/Getty Images

Trump toured the eight prototypes alongside Rodney Scott, the chief Border Patrol agent for the San Diego sector and James O’Loughlin, the project manager. O'Loughlin carried a binder with information for the president about the prototypes. Scott showed Trump pictures of the area before and after the current fencing went up.

Trump said he preferred a wall design that allowed Border Patrol agents to see through the barrier.

“You have to know what is on the other side of the wall,” he said. “You can be two feet away from a criminal cartel and you don’t even know that they are there.”

Trump said he also preferred the taller walls, saying they acted as a deterrent to people crossing illegally, whom he compared to "professional mountain climbers."

Trump Reviews Border Wall Prototypes in California and talk about how horribly the state is run by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. on March 13, 2018.

Trump said he noticed while driving to the prototypes, along the eastern suburbs of San Diego, that the existing border fence was filled with holes that were patched over. “It’s not doing the trick because they cut holes in it,” Trump said. “The fence is not strong enough. It’s not the right idea.”

In a news conference following his tour, Trump used a bit of Spanish to discuss picking the best design. "We want to make it perfecto," he said.

Trump's tour was monitored by about eight Border Patrol officers on horseback. Mexican agents watched from a guard house across the border.

Trump touched down at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego about 11:30 a.m. local time and he boarded a helicopter to an airport near the eight prototypes for a border wall, his signature campaign promise.

He toured the area until just after 1 p.m.

After that, Trump returned to the Marine Corps airfield to make remarks to members of the military.

Prepping the border for Trump

On Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spruced up the area around the structures in time for Trump’s tour of the prototypes. Workers added gravel to the dirt roads leading to the site to make it easier to reach, and around the prototypes to make it easier to walk among them. They also propped up metal shipping containers on the south side of the prototypes to block the view from the Mexican side of the border.

Mexican police announced they would also secure the area south of the border. They would restrict access to the Mexican side of the prototypes for the duration of Trump’s visit, police said.

Arizona Republic reporter Rafael Carranza previews President Donald Trump’s visit to San Diego from across the border in Tijuana, Mexico.

By 9 a.m. Tuesday, Mexican federal police had cordoned off approximately three blocks of the dirt road that runs along the existing border wall. Just behind the wall, which is painted with murals featuring pro-migrant and peaceful messages, the eight border wall prototypes tower, visible from the Tijuana side.

The neighborhood near this section of the border wall is quite industrial. About three dozen federal police were patrolling the area. Reporters from local and national outlets climbed onto roofs of homes and businesses to get a bird’s eye view of the prototypes.

The prototypes sit about 100 feet from the solid metal fencing that separates both countries.

Trump's first visit to California met with opposition, support

Jacqueline Hackney (left) and her daughter, Tiffany Hackney, 13, (right) both of Corona, Calif., cheer during a rally in support of President Trump a few miles from where he will visit the border wall prototypes near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, Calif., later in the day on Tuesday, March 13, 2018.

David Wallace/The Republic

The trip is Trump's first to California as president and, given his seemingly irreconcilable differences with the state's prevailing political culture, he was expected to be met by demonstrators. Several groups had announced anti-Trump events, such as Nuevo Movimento's protest march planned for Otay Mesa.

As President Trump was on his way to see border wall prototypes in San Diego, protesters chanted, "No human being is illegal."

Shaper said he voted for Trump because of his promise to build the wall on the border.

“We’ve go to stop the drug flow,” he said. “We’ve got to stop the gang flow and the human trafficking.”

Melody Hurt, a 65-year-old retired teacher from Chula Vista, Calif., said that California used to be the most advanced state in the union. “That’s what I want again,” she said. “I want our children to be able to go outside and play safely.”

Just after 10 a.m., the crowd started a group sing-a-long of the Star Spangled Banner.

Near the border wall prototypes, several Trump supporters gathered on a corner behind a police barricade, waiting for his arrival. As a car passed, a man shouted from the window: “USA, USA!”

A crowd of protesters gather at San Ysidro in San Diego Calif., to protest during President Trump's visit to see the border wall prototypes on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Nick Oza/azcentral.com

Hundreds of protesters filled a parking lot at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church with signs reading "Not my president," "Bridges Not Walls," and "Build it and they will still come."

"I don’t think that the wall will happen," said Barbara Pebley, San Diego business executive. "But I didn’t think Donald Trump would get elected. Things are swinging so far to the right."

“We feel like Donald Trump is just attacking our community,” said Estela Jiménez, who lives in San Diego and said she’s often crossing the border back and forth. “I think he’s using the wall situation against our communities in order to get some votes.”

A Catholic priest, the Rev. Jose Zarate, led the crowd in a prayer. He told them: “Do not follow the message of hate. Do not allow yourself to be used and abused by those who want to divide this country – and already have. Say no to that division. Do not be silent.”

The rallies broke up shortly after Trump landed.

Even though the 30-foot wall prototypes tower over the containers, the boxes effectively blocked direct views of the ground north of the prototypes, the spot where Trump walked and inspected them.

Trump clashes with California's politicians

Share This Gallery

Trump's border visit marked his first trek to California, a deep-blue state that overwhelmingly voted for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and is being sued by his Justice Department over "sanctuary" immigration laws.

On Monday, the Trump administration pushed back against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for suggesting that immigration authorities "terrorize" families with "unjust and cruel raids."

"Our ICE officers are protecting the immigrant community," Homan told reporters on a conference call. "You’re talking about law enforcement people that get up every day and leave the safety and security of their home, strap on a gun ... to defend this nation.”

Homan also complained that California law prohibits ICE from picking up people from state and local jails.

President Trump is putting California on notice with a threat to pull ICE officers out of the state. Veuer's Nick Cardona has that story.

Buzz60

The Justice Department earlier this month sued California over three state "sanctuary state" statutes. The laws ban employers and law-enforcement officials from cooperating with federal immigration authorities and provide for a state review of federal immigration detention, which the Justice Department says amounts to California unlawfully trying "to regulate the federal government."

California Gov. Jerry Brown responded to the U.S. lawsuit by accusing U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions of using "political stunts" to "further divide and polarize America."

During his tour, Trump criticized Brown saying he was doing a poor job of running California. "

"The place is totally out of control," Trump said. "You have sanctuary cities where you have criminals living in the sanctuary cities."

Trump was set to speak to members of the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. About an hour before the scheduled speech, a man in fatigues told a group of uniformed personnel to clap for the president rather than simply stand at attention. "It's not going to be all formal," he told the men."

Trump in Beverly Hills

A video shows workers on the U.S. side of the border in San Diego using containers to block the view of the border wall prototypes on March 12, 2018, ahead of Trump's visit. Rafael Carranza/azcentral.com

On Tuesday evening. Trump was expected to headline a fundraiser in Beverly Hills to benefit "Trump Victory," a joint fundraising committee benefiting his presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee.

Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, and Todd Ricketts, the RNC's national finance chairman, are listed as hosts on an invitation that has been widely shared on the Internet.

The president will arrive at Los Angeles International Airport at 3:35 p.m. and then go to the Santa Monica landing zone.

Trump also will take part in a 6:30 p.m. roundtable discussion with Republican National Committee supporters at the private residence, according to the White House itinerary.

Alan Gomez of USA TODAY and Richard Ruelas, Dennis Wagner and Alden Woods of the Republic contributed to this story. Rebecca Plevin of the Desert Sun contributed reporting from Tijuana, Mex.